Win Loss Glossary Terms

Sales Process

Term

Definition

Request for Proposal (RFP)

A request for proposal (RFP) is a solicitation by a firm interested in a service issued to potential suppliers to submit business proposals. It is often issued early in the procurement cycle to narrow the list of firms considered for later steps, such as a formal presentation. Similar requests include a request for price quotation (RFQ) and a request for information (RFI), which is typically followed by an RFP or RFQ.

Presentation

A presentation is often the final step of the sales process and is meant to demonstrate the capabilites of one firm compared to the competition. Presentations can be given by a sole salesperson or, as is often the case in Anova’s work, involves a team approach which includes firm executives, sales personnel, and proposed client service and support team members. Understanding the effectiveness of a company’s sales presentation is crucial for future sales success.

Bids Won

At the conclusion of a sales process, Bids Won are successful outcomes of retaining a current client or gaining a new client. Win Loss analysis allows insight into why the client or prospect chose one firm over another.

Bids Lost

At the conclusion of a sales process, Bids Lost are unsuccessful outcomes of retaining a current client or gaining a new client. Win Loss analysis allows insight into why the client or prospect chose one firm over another.

Complex Sale

A complex sale is one that involves more than one decision maker. Often times the salesperson must convince the majority (if not all) of the decision makers rather than just one person.

Team Selling

Team selling involves more than one salesperson or firm representative, often including a mixture of executives, sales and service / support personnel from different areas of a firm.

Industry Terms: Finance

Term

Definition

Defined Contribution Plan

A company retirement plan that specifies the amount of money contributed by the employee through a set percentage of his or her salary to the plan. The employer may also make a contribution that is a percentage of the employee’s contribution. The money is generally placed in employee-selected mutual funds or other similar investments within the plan. 401(k)s are the most common defined contribution plans employers use today. Similar plans include 403(b) plans, offered to public school employees and tax-exempt groups, and 457 plans, offered to state and public employees, in addition to nonprofits.

Defined Benefit Plan

A company retirement plan that is sponsored by the employer. Employee benefits are determined using factors such as salary history and duration of employment. Unlike defined contribution, portfolio management (and therefore, investment risk) are entirely under the control of the company. Defined benefit plans may also be referred to as qualified benefit plans or non-qualified benefit plans .

Plan Participant

A plan participant either contributes into a pension plan or is in a position to receive benefit payments from the plan.

Plan Sponsor

A designated party, usually a company or employer, that sets up a healthcare or retirement plan such as a 401(k) for the benefit of the organization’s employees. Plan sponsors are responsible for determing who may participate, the available investments, and for potentially providing a contribution match through cash or stock.

Financial Advisor / Consultant

One who provides financial advice or guidance to clients for monetary compensation. Financial advisors (or advisers) and intermediaries can provide many different services including investment management, income tax preparation and estate planning. A financial advisor must carry the Series 65 license in order to conduct business with the public. An investment consultant, although similar to an advisor, tends to do more in-depth work on clients’ investment strategies and is not required to carry a Series 65 license.

Intermediary

A third party who has a relationship with a prospect (or client) and sells (or services) jointly with another company(s).

Asset Management

The management of a client’s investments by a financial services company, typically by an investment bank.

Retail funds, often categorized as mutual funds, carry lower initial investments and management expense ratios than institutional funds. They are sold to individual investors through investment dealers and open market transactions and are registered with the SEC.

Auto Enrollment Plan

Auto enrollment is an employer’s decision to automatically have a portion of employees’ paychecks placed into a 401(k) or similar retirement savings account without a need for the employees’ consent. The employer decides what percentage of an employee’s paycheck will automatically be placed in a retirement account and may also decide whether to increase that percentage each year, until the employee reaches a 10% contribution rate.

Qualified Default Investment Alternative (QDIA)

QDIAs were defined in the Pension Protection Act of 2006 in an effort to ease the process of automatic enrollment in retirement plans and is used to identify the investment vehicle(s) where monies can be directed in the absence of direction from a plan participant. Requirements of a QDIA include being well-diversified, no securities in the company for which the plan participant works, and it may not penalize the participant for early withdrawal.

Actuarial Service

Method by which corporations determine, assess, and plan for the financial impact of risk in the insurance and finance industries. Actuarial services are used most often in pension and defined benefit plans.

Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA)

ERISA protects the retirement assets of Americans by implementing rules that qualified plans must follow to ensure that plan fiduciaries do not misuse plan assets. It requires plans to provide participants with important information about plan features and funding and sets minimum standards for participation, vesting, benefit accrual and funding.

Fiduciary Liability

Through the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), trustees, employers, fiduciaries, professional administrators, and the plan itself carry the responsibility of errors and omissions (E&O) in the administration of employee benefit programs.

Open Architecture

The option offered by an investment firm to let its clients invest not just in that firm’s financial products, but also in all competing firms’ financial products. Open architecture is often preferred by Plan Sponsors, as it ensures that the investment firm can act in each participant’s best interest by recommending the financial products best suited to that client, even if they are not proprietary products.

401(k) Service Delivery Model: Bundled

In the bundled model for Plan Sponsors, one single vendor provides all investment, recordkeeping, administration, and education services. Costs are generally lower because the vendor is able to offset recordkeeping and administrative costs from investment management fees.

401(k) Service Delivery Model: Unbundled

With an unbundled model, the plan sponsor is responsible for providing all services through in-house staff and independent service providers. This model allows for maximum control and the ability to pick service providers that are the “best of the best,” including investment options rather than using just one provider for all tasks.

Recordkeeper

401(k) recordkeepers are responsible for managing the day-to-day operations of the plan such as tracking participant contribution rates and investment selections, providing account statements, and maintaining records of outstanding participant loans.

Fiduciary

A person legally appointed and authorized to hold assets in trust for another person. The fiduciary manages the assets for the benefit of the other person rather than for his or her own profit.

Financial Wellness

Financial wellness is a program or set of programs designed to provide a holistic view to employees of their financial well-being, including insurance, loans, social security, and medical expenses.

Wealth Management

A high-level professional service that combines financial and investment advice, accounting services, retirement planning and legal and estate planning for one fee. Wealth managers may also provide banking services or advice on philanthropic activities.

Merger or Acquisition

A merger occurs when two or more companies mutually combine. Generally, the acquiring company will offer the stockholders of the other company securities in the their company in exchange for the surrender of the acquired company’s stock.

Robo-Advisors

A robo-advisor is an online wealth management service that provides automated, algorithm-based portfolio management advice without the use or input of human financial advisors. Unlike personal advisors, robo-advisors (or robo-advisers) do not get involved in more personal aspects of wealth management, such as taxes and retirement or estate planning.

Third-party Plan Administrator (TPA)

TPAs are financial professionals familiar with the complex regulations of retirement plans. Plan sponsors often utilize TPAs to handle tasks such as designing a retirement plan and ensuring the plan is in compliance with current government regulations.

Managed Account / Separately Managed Accounts (SMAs)

Managed accounts are investment accounts owned by an individual investor and managed by a professional money manager. Unlike mutual funds, managed accounts are personalized to the specific needs of the investor. SMAs often require a minimum investment of $100,000 or more.

Sub-advised Fund

A fund structure in which a fund, such as a hedge fund or mutual fund, is managed by another management team or firm than where the assets are held. Sub-advised funds are often found in wrap programs or variable annuities and are often smaller versions of larger mutual funds and hold the same stock proportions as the larger mutual fund. Since there are two management companies involved, sub-advised funds typically have layered fees.

Client Prospect Analysis

Term

Definition

Win Loss Analysis (Win/Loss Analysis, Win-Loss Analysis)

Win Loss Analysis is a market research practice that focuses on de-constructing how companies market and sell their products and services from the prospect’s perspective. A Win Loss program usually entails conducting in-depth interviews with new clients or lost prospects. The objective is to gather useful and actionable information on the effectiveness of the sales process, to synthesize it quickly and accurately, and to use it to facilitate continuous improvement across an organization.

Onboarding Satisfaction Survey

Anova’s Onboarding Satisfaction studies identify strengths and weaknesses within the transition process of a prospect becoming a client. Understanding the effectiveness and experience of the onboarding process is key to learning about a new client, assessing the chemistry of the currently assigned team, and identifying at an early stage in the relationship any issues that may have arisen during the transition.

Client Satisfaction Study

Client Satisfaction studies are research projects that measure satisfaction, ascertain areas for improvement / areas of dissatisfaction, identify clients who are loyal and those who may be at risk for departure, and pinpoint clients’ perceptions of changes that have been made to the business or new product and services that have been added. Client satisfaction studies are often conducted with surveys, either paper, on-line or via telephone interviews, and Anova generally recommends Client Satisfaction surveys be conducted on an annual or bi-annual basis. In addition to client surveys, Anova also recommends conducting interviews with clients considered “at risk” based upon specific questions included in the survey. Identifying at-risk clients can reduce the risk of their departure as well as reveal potential areas for improvement within your business.

Departed Client Analysis

While the reasons behind some client departures may be out of a company’s direct control, most client departures stem from some level of dissatisfaction. Conducting Departed Client analysis allows companies to better understand why a client decided to leave, what caused their dissatisfaction, and whether there exists an opportunity in the future to reinstate them as a client. It demosntrates to a client that the company values the relationship and their business, and therefore may keep the door open for future business.

Post Merger / Acquisition Analysis

Mergers and acquisitions not only affect the organizations involved and their employees, but also impact the organizations’ customers / clients; therefore, it is critical that customer views are captured and addressed. Through direct conversations with affected clients, Post Merger / Acquisition Analysis explores client perceptions of mergers / acquisitions (both positive and negative), and aids companies in identifying at-risk clients and areas where further client communication may be needed.

Advisor Perception Analysis

One common sales approach involves selling through intermediaries, channels or partners, whereby a third party develops a relationship with the prospect and then makes a sales presentation jointly with a product specialist or salesperson / wholesaler. For organizations who sell services through advisors or jointly service clients with advisors, it is critical to understand how these key influencers view the organization (from a product, sales, service, marketing, pricing and positioning perspective). As with other studies, Advisor Perception Analysis assists with identifying overall strengths and weaknesses and competitive positioning relative to other firms with whom an advisor partners.

Industry Benchmarking

Due to Anova Consulting Group’s extensive insitutional market research experience, we are able to provide our clients with proprietary industry benchmarking in many key areas such as overall client impressions, sales, product, fees, and technology. Anova helps clients not only understand how they are performing on an absolute basis, but also how they score relative to key competitors in their markets. While no competitor’s results will be called out / shared individually, Anova is able to provide aggregate results from several key competitors to gauge where your company stands relative to others in your industry.

Competitive Edge

Understanding the services offered by similar firms and their approach for promoting such services can be key to winning a prospect’s business. By conducting Win Loss Analysis, you will gain direct insight and metrics of your competitors through benchmarking and independent qualitative feedback.

Collected Data

Term

Definition

Executive Interview

Anova’s Executive Interviewers conduct interviews with prospects and / or clients to help our clients gain knowledge on their performance from a product, sales and service prospective, as well as their competiton. The executive interviews tend to last 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the length of the survey. Each interview is conducted professionally by the Executive Interviewers who are trained specifically for each client.

Strengths and Weaknesses

Sales process Strengths and weaknesses (or areas for improvement), are often seen as positive and negative differentitors from direct competitors and are identified through Anova’s surveys and interviews. What is considered a strength by one prospect or customer may be considered a weakness by another, so it is important to gain overall insight through a full program to truly understand if changes are necessary.

Net Promoter Score

The Net Promoter Score, or NPS®, is calculated based on the answer to the question, How likely is it that you would recommend [brand] to a friend or colleague? , using a 0-10 scale. The NPS® is a management tool used to gauge client loyalty.

ViewPoint

ViewPoint is Anova’s proprietary online tracking system that allows clients to monitor their win/loss and other research programs through real time updates on completed and scheduled interviews.